


the crusades have long been over

by curricle



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:00:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28495743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curricle/pseuds/curricle
Summary: so what do you do, then, when the bugle never calls?
Kudos: 2





	the crusades have long been over

what are the truths you hold about yourself?

that you are the guard dog with the golden chain  
longing for the hearth without ever knowing of its warmth.  
you were born to fight with teeth and holy terror,  
your voice clipped but to call out in righteous fury —  
a fury never felt, aside from the ghost of a fraudulent youth.

you bite without ever opening your mouth.  
your muscles tremble with their stillness,  
your body pointed forward for the moment you will pull,  
choking yourself and mistaking the pain for joy —  
this is what you were made to do,  
what you hope to do.  
the martyrdom of a creature groomed for battle,  
a weapon kept in a display case.

the tree knows nothing of your struggle against it, and would not care  
about your death, your rotting corpse  
seeping into the dirt and feeding the roots as it grows, inch by inch,  
away from your body.

the years pass, and you realize: the war is not coming.  
you are a pet who was told it was a soldier.  
the only battlefield you'll ever see is wrapped  
in chain-link behind the garage.  
but your purpose cannot be unbred, and so you pace,  
restless,  
and imagine your pawprints subduing the earth.


End file.
